1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to alignment and installation tools. In particular, the present invention relates to high-precision, six-axis alignment and installation tools.
2. Description of Related Art
In manufacturing large machines, such as aircraft, it is often necessary to maneuver large, heavy components together for assembly. These operations typically require a large number of personnel and the use of large overhead cranes. Assembling these large components is time and labor intensive, and can often tie up manufacturing resources for many hours. In addition, the risk of damage to one or all of the components being assembled is quite high, due to the limited amount of control that the operators have over large overhead cranes.
For example, installing a tilt rotor nacelle onto the wing of a tilt rotor aircraft can take up to twelve hours, require up to twenty people, and tie up a large overhead crane for the entire process. The nacelle must be precisely hoisted, aligned, and installed onto the wing of the aircraft without damaging either the nacelle or the wing. Clearances can be as little as 0.002 inches. It is practically impossible to achieve an acceptable level of precision using these methods. To compound the matter, this operation must be repeated for the other nacelle and the other wing of the aircraft. In addition, it is not possible to move these overhead cranes out of the assembly plant.
There are many other applications in which large, heavy machine components must be hoisted, aligned, and assembled together in a precise manner.
There is a need for a six-axis alignment and installation tool for precisely hoisting, aligning, and maneuvering large, heavy machine components so that they can be assembled together.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a six-axis alignment and installation tool for precisely hoisting, aligning, and maneuvering large, heavy machine components.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a six-axis alignment and installation tool having a base unit and a plurality of interchangeable units, wherein the base unit provides some of the degrees of freedom, and each interchangeable unit provides the remaining degrees of freedom.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a six-axis alignment and installation tool having a base unit and a plurality of interchangeable units, wherein the base unit provides five of the degrees of freedom, and each interchangeable unit provides the remaining degree of freedom.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a six-axis alignment and installation tool for installing tilt rotor nacelles onto the wings of tilt rotor aircraft.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a six-axis alignment and installation tool having two modes of transportation, such that the tool may be transported from a controlled environment, such as within an assembly plant, to an uncontrolled environment, such as an outside runway or tarmac.
The above objects are achieved by providing a six-axis alignment and installation tool having a multi-component base unit, and a plurality of multi-component interchangeable units, wherein the components of the base unit translate and rotate relative to each other in five degrees of freedom, and the components of each interchangeable unit rotate relative to each other in one degree of freedom, the tool having two modes of transportation.
The alignment and installation tool of the present invention has many advantages over current methods of assembling large machine components. With the alignment and installation tool and the methods of the present invention, significant savings in time, labor, and materials are realized. Nacelles can be installed onto tilt rotor aircraft with fewer people and in a significantly reduced amount of time. Because the alignment and installation tool of the present invention can maneuver a nacelle with very high precision, the risk of damage to these expensive parts is dramatically reduced. Because the alignment and installation tool of the present invention has two modes of transportation, the tool may be transported from a controlled environment to an uncontrolled environment to perform certain repairs, or repair steps, without bringing the machine or its components into the assembly plant. The present invention improves safety by reducing the number of people required to install a nacelle, by eliminating the need for overhead cranes, and by reducing the time required to perform the assembly process.
The above, as well as, additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent in the following detailed description.